R.
Scott Rector, graduate research assistant at the University
of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, was the first
recipient of the new Health Activity Center M. Harold Laughlin
Scholarship.

Dr. Rector earned his PhD in exercise physiology
from MU in 2001. His research focus examines the role of weight
loss by energy restriction and aerobic training improvements.
His dissertation project investigates the impact of lifestyle
modification on markers of oxidative stress and antioxidant
defense systems with associated changes in insulin sensitivity
and risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

The scholarship, funded by an anonymous
donor, established the permanently endowed fund at the University
of Missouri-Columbia in honor of Dr. M. Harold Laughlin, director
of the Biomedical Sciences Department at the College of Veterinary
Medicine.

The recipient shall be an individual of
high integrity and genuine caring for the health of humans
and animals. These characteristics are those exhibited by
Dr. M. Harold Laughlin.

The fund is designed to provide awards
to graduate students, post doctoral fellows, medical students,
interns or residents, and/or veterinary students, interns
or residents who contribute outstanding research in physical
inactivity and chronic disease or promote physical activity
and health—focal points of the Health Activity Center
at the University of Missouri.

The Health Activity Center at the University of Missouri is
dedicated to education and promotion and to ending the 35
inactivity-related disorders. Faculty members of the Health
Activity Center work to determine the biological basis of
how physical inactivity makes the body susceptible to chronic
disease and disorders such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis,
hypertension, physical frailty, cancer and arthritis. As companion
animals have some of the same inactivity-induced disorders,
comparative medicine and human-animal bonding experiments
are also performed. The vision of the Center is to make a
national impact by reducing the human suffering that occurs
when the body weakens and becomes diseased because of physical
inactivity.